An Assessment of the Wave Energy Potential off of North Carolina's Coast (2011)
Undergraduate: Chris Lazinski
Faculty Advisor: Harvey Seim
Department: Environmental Science
As North Carolina seeks to diversify its energy portfolio, electricity derived from ocean waves is becoming an area of intense interest around the state. In order to better understand North Carolina's wave energy resources, the results of a computer model for wave forecasting developed at the US Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, NC were compiled and analyzed. Significant wave height, dominant wave period, and depth were available from December 2006 to November 2010 at a spatial resolution of approximately 5km for the entire NC coastline. Calculating and averaging wave power over different time scales showed significant seasonal variability in wave power, with the winter months being the most powerful. Depths between 20 and 50 meters are best for wave energy device deployment, so areas between these depths were assessed for their suitability of wave energy development. According to the overall average power map, the best place to site a wave farm is right around Cape Hatteras, with the best power off of Hatteras Island to the north of the Cape and in Raleigh Bay to the south of the Cape. In these regions, annual average power ranges from 18 to 28kW/m, meaning that the NC coast ranks well below other wave energy sites in the world, with typical power in the range of 30-50kW/m. This conclusion should not deter the development of devices which can harness this energy source for the state of North Carolina.